Visa (NYSE:V) Trading Down 1.3% – Time to Sell?

Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)’s share price was down 1.3% during trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as low as $345.69 and last traded at $347.66. 10,082,895 shares were traded during mid-day trading, an increase of 25% from the average session volume of 8,094,271 shares. The stock had previously closed at $352.20.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on V shares. Evercore set a $350.00 target price on Visa in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Loop Capital assumed coverage on shares of Visa in a research note on Tuesday, March 31st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $387.00 price target on the stock. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Visa from $390.00 to $410.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Barclays assumed coverage on shares of Visa in a research note on Tuesday. They set an “overweight” rating and a $420.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Truist Financial set a $371.00 target price on shares of Visa and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 12th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have given a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $397.91.

Visa Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 1.09 and a quick ratio of 1.09. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $330.52 and its 200 day moving average price is $324.88. The stock has a market capitalization of $626.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 0.75.

Visa (NYSE:V) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 28th. The credit-card processor reported $3.31 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.10 by $0.21. Visa had a net margin of 51.68% and a return on equity of 65.00%. The company had revenue of $11.23 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.75 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.76 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 13.1 EPS for the current year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 12th were issued a dividend of $0.67 per share. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 12th. Visa’s dividend payout ratio is presently 23.34%.

Visa declared that its board has initiated a share buyback program on Tuesday, April 28th that permits the company to repurchase $20.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the credit-card processor to purchase up to 3.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,027 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $360.00, for a total transaction of $729,720.00. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel owned 18,404 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,625,440. This represents a 9.92% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 10,490 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $343.99, for a total transaction of $3,608,455.10. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 15,174 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,219,704.26. This represents a 40.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 75,581 shares of company stock valued at $25,627,975 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Visa

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Clayton Financial Group LLC raised its stake in Visa by 446.2% during the 4th quarter. Clayton Financial Group LLC now owns 71 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares during the period. PayPay Securities Corp raised its position in shares of Visa by 102.7% during the 4th quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 75 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the period. Cresta Advisors Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Visa during the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Parvin Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Visa by 200.0% during the 3rd quarter. Parvin Asset Management LLC now owns 75 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dorato Capital Management bought a new position in Visa in the 4th quarter worth $30,000. 82.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Visa

Visa Inc is a global payments technology company that facilitates electronic funds transfers and digital commerce by connecting consumers, merchants, financial institutions and governments. The firm operates one of the world’s largest payment networks, providing processing, authorization, clearing and settlement services for credit, debit and prepaid card transactions. Visa’s network-based model enables partner banks and other issuers to offer branded payment products while Visa focuses on the infrastructure, standards and technologies that move money securely and efficiently around the world.

Visa’s product and service portfolio includes card-based payment products for consumers and businesses, real-time push-payment capabilities, tokenization and authentication services, fraud and risk-management tools, data analytics and APIs for fintech and merchant integration.